Specialist UK police unit scoops prestigious international award

Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit wins the 2008 European Investigation Unit of the Year Award

The Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU) - the banking industry-sponsored special police unit that tackles cheque and card fraud crime in the UK - has won the 2008 European Investigation Unit of the Year award. The European arm of the International Association of Financial Crime Investigators (IAFCI) presided over the award and the DCPCU were adjudged joint winners, along with the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation.

Presentation of the award took place at the annual European Chapter of the IAFCI conference in Ayia Napa, Cyprus, and saw the DCPCU join an illustrious list of previous winners, which includes representatives from the Belgian Federal Police, Ukrainian Police and Bavarian Police.

Detective Chief Inspector John Folan, who heads up the DCPCU and is a serving City of London police officer, said: “It is a tremendous honour to receive this award. The Unit has made great strides since its creation in 2002 and to receive an accolade of this nature is testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone at the DCPCU. It is always satisfying to receive acknowledgement of your successes, but to receive recognition from such an esteemed international body is an achievement we are extremely proud of.”

European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) members of the IAFCI were able to nominate candidates for the annual award, who were then judged by the EMEA IAFCI board in line with several categories, such as: the quality of work carried out; number of cases investigated; number of arrests and convictions; and specific case work judged worthy of special consideration.

The DCPCU is fully sponsored by the banking industry through APACS – the UK payments association, and has an ongoing brief to help stamp out organised card and cheque fraud across the UK. It is a unique body that comprises officers from the Metropolitan and City of London police forces who work alongside banking industry fraud investigators. Since its inception in April 2002, the DCPCU has been responsible for more than £230 million in savings from reduced fraud activity and has recovered more than 244,000 counterfeit cards and card numbers.

ENDS

For further information contact the APACS Press Office:

T: Mark Bowerman 020 7711 6251 / Michelle Whiteman 020 7711 6316

E: press@apacs.org.uk

Notes to editors:

1 APACS is the trade body that gives banks, building societies and card issuers a forum where they can work together on non-competitive issues. We help manage the way that businesses and individuals in the UK move their money around - this covers cash, credit and debit cards, cheques and automated payments such as Direct Debits, salary payments and the new Faster Payments Service launched on 27 May for online/phone banking transactions and standing orders. We lead the fight against banking fraud and twice a year we publish figures on payment industry fraud losses.

2 The DCPCU was launched on 29 April 2002 as a two-year pilot. Following the successful conclusion of this trial, it was established as a permanent Unit – a funding commitment of £3m per year by the banking industry - with an ongoing brief to help stamp out organised card and cheque fraud. The Unit is jointly resourced, with APACS and its members providing fraud specialists and administrators who work alongside police officers and civilian staff from the City of London and Metropolitan Police.

3 The Payments Industry and Police Joint Intelligence Unit (PIPJIU) was officially launched on 10 March 2008. It is an enhanced intelligence unit - the result of the amalgamation of the banking industry’s Fraud Intelligence Bureau (FIB), the body that formerly distributed information between the banking industry and law enforcement throughout the UK – and the intelligence section of the DCPCU.